Discovering Bologna through places of worship with the events of the Zeri Foundation

The 2024 edition of the “Da che pulpito!” event kicks off, with a cycle of lectures and free guided tours dedicated to the knowledge and dissemination of Bologna's artistic heritage. Promoted by the Federico Zeri Foundation, in collaboration with the National Museums of Bologna and Card Cultura, and under the patronage of the Archdiocese of Bologna, the programme offers the opportunity to discover some of the most beautiful churches in Bologna and their wealth of art works.

The event opens on Tuesday 9 April, at 5.30 p.m., with the conference "Cimabue, 'melancholic patriarch': the Maestà dei Servi and sacred space in late 13th-century Bologna", at the Federico Zeri Foundation (Piazza Giorgio Morandi, 2 - Bologna) and will continue, again at the Foundation, on Tuesday 16 April at 5.30 p.m., with the conference "Tra arte e carità. The confraternities in Bologna between the 15th and 18th centuries” and, on Tuesday 23 April at 5.30 p.m., with “Art institutes and competitions. Artistic education in pre-unification Bologna.”

The concluding conference will take place on Tuesday 7 May, at 5.30 p.m., at the National Art Gallery in Bologna (Via Belle Arti, 56), on “Suppressed churches in the Napoleonic era.”

The lectures are conceived from a multidisciplinary perspective through thematic paths emphasising unprecedented links between painting, sculpture, decorative arts and architecture. Each lesson is held ahead of a guided tour (the following Saturday), which will allow the participants to explore some of the topics discussed in more depth while admiring the original works.

The meetings are held by young art historians from the University of Bologna, coordinated by the curators of the exhibition Luca Mattedi and Elisabetta Sambo, collaborators of the Federico Zeri Foundation. Guided tours will take place at the Basilica of Santa Maria dei Servi (13 April), the Oratory of San Rocco (20 April), the Church of Saints Vitale and Agricola (27 April), and the National Art Gallery (11 May).